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Deaths

Producer: Statistics Finland
Homepage: http://www.stat.fi/til/kuol/index_en.html
Main topic: Population
Related topics: Health
Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Yes
European Statistical System (ESS): Yes

Description

The statistics on deaths cover persons permanently domiciled in Finland on the day of death. Statistical data on deaths are produced by a number of variables including age, gender, marital status, native language and nationality. The statistics on deaths contain no data on causes of death, on which data are available from the statistics on causes of death produced within health statistics.

Data content

The statistics contain demographic data, such as age, gender, marital status, native language, country of birth, municipality of birth, municipality of residence and number of children on persons having died in Finland. The data apply to the situation on the day of death. The data on persons who were married or in a registered partnership at the time of death also include those on the age of the spouse and duration of the marriage/registered partnership. The statistics also contain data on mortality, and on infant and perinatal mortality. Data on the population and age and gender distribution of deaths are used to calculate annual figures on life expectancy and probability of death by age and gender.

Classifications used

The data are available by various regional divisions based on municipalities. Since 1999, nationality, country of birth and language have been classified according to ISO standard. Prior to this, Statistics Finland’s own classifications were used. Age is classified by 1 or 5-year cohorts.

The classification into regions and the statistical classification into municipalities have been used since 1997. The respective categories used prior to this were province and type of municipality. Since 1999, the regional classification entering into force at the beginning of the year following the statistical reference year has been applied in the statistics on deaths.

Data collection methods and data sources

Finnish population statistics are based on data derived from The Digital and Population data services Agency’s Population Information System. A death must be reported immediately to a physician or the police. A unit operating in health care or a physician must report a death to an administrative court which will enter it into the Population Information System (Act 1065/2009). In exceptional cases the police can order an investigation of cause of death, after which the information can be entered into the Population Information System. The Digital and Population data services Agency forwards the data to Statistics Finland.

Updating frequency

Final statistics are published once a year.

Time of completion or release

The final statistics for a calendar year are ready in April of the next calendar year unless otherwise stated. Preliminary data on the number of deaths are released monthly in electronic format on Statistics Finland’s website page “Preliminary population statistics”. Final statistics on the number of deaths are released on Statistics Finland’s website in April.

Time series

Annual data on numbers of deaths for the whole country are available in electronic format starting from 1749 and by gender starting from 1751. Numbers of deaths by month are available starting from 1945, by sex and 5-year cohort since 1951 and by sex and 1-year cohort starting from 1980. Numbers of deaths by municipality are available since 1951 and deaths by municipality and 5-year cohort since 1975. Data on life expectancy at birth are available starting from 1751 and figures on life expectancy and probability of death by 1-year cohort are available starting from 1986.

Keywords

infant mortality, life expectancy, mortality, perinatal mortality, population, population changes, vital statistics

Contact information

http://tilastokeskus.fi/til/kuol/yht_en.html


Last updated 23.04.2020